Entries in Outdoors
(47)

Are the dog days of summer getting you down? If you need some relief, the Pump Bottle Mister from The Chilling Spot is your wet and wild answer. It's a handy little bottle you fill with water and ice that allows you to pump air pressure that, when released, creates anything from a fine, cooling mist to a shooting spray. If you're going outside under the beating sun, it's like having a personal air conditioner with you.

There are other misters out there, but none compare in quality, durability and versatility. The only one that lets you drop in full ice cubes, it's a perfect cool-down for hikers, boaters, people playing sports or beachgoers. However, it has a multitude of uses such as general household chores and watering plants, among many more.

Sports league nationwide use the Pump Bottle Mister for a terrific fundraiser. Choose to add a "Chill Sleeve" and keep the water inside colder longer while adding an attractive wrap. And kids love how they can use it as a water gun for backyard fun.

The Pump Bottle Mister is built to last and provides endless hours of fun and cooling relief. When you have one of these, the hotter it gets outside the more new friends you're going to make.

Want something stylish, durable, yet lightweight and portable to store all the essentials on your next trip on the boat? Look no further than the Water Dog boat bag by Clear Creek.

Designed to thrive in wet conditions, the Water Dog boat bag is perfect for whether you are cruising along a glassy pond, or barreling through rough seas. Crafted from highly water-resistant, high tenactiy denier fabric, it holds up even in standing water with a molded skid proof, waterproof bottom and a waterproof, pull-out rain fly. The rain fly packs neatly in side pocket when not in use

The Hi-vis interior fabric is durable and resists mildew. It comes with heavy duty YKK zippers, Duraflex hardware, and adjustable, removable, padded shoulder strap and reinforced carry handle and is abrasion-resistant. Just chuck it in an your ready to go.

Fishermen and pleasure cruisers will both be thrilled with the performance of their Water Dog. Now open it up and “fetch” a cold one.

The first thing you notice is the bullet-shaped protective case. This thing looks and feels like it could be dropped from the top floor of a tall building and an egg inside wouldn't crack. That's just the beginning. What's inside is even more impressive.

AMO, (Advanced Multi-sport Optics) contacted us and asked if we'd like to try out a pair of their top-of-the line sports sunglasses. AMO is an up-and-coming brand but with a global following that provides high quality sports sunglasses and is fighting hard against the mega sports brands. It is niche, small but very interesting.

The pair they sent us was their Ironcatcher model, which looked very similar in style to another well-known name. However, digging in, one finds that these are not simply knock-offs, (though they do cost less), but that the AMO brand is out to beat the competition in quality and, from what we can see, they've succeeded.

The AMO frames are made from Grilamid TR90 – the best of the best. It is lightweight, resistant to stress cracking and material fatigue and stands up well against UV exposure and extreme temperatures.

The polycarbonite NXT lenses are vented for optimal performance when going fast, (think running, cycling). NXT lenses hands-down beat other lenses on the market. They're optically clearer, UV resistant, with hydrophobic and anti-scratch coatings. They are also interchangeable and easily clipped in and out of the frames.

Maybe the greatest benefit to the athlete is the way these glasses fit. With an adjustable nose piece and adjustable temple arms, you can actually contour your AMO's to fit your face, the way you like. This customization option means it is almost like ordering from the factory to meet your individual specifications. I can tell you that I've never worn a pair that fits better than these. We also liked the cool style feature of being able to switch out the black temple arms with an included set of yellow that give the glasses a hot two-tone look.

They market their products for action sports like cycling, running and triathlon. Being a baseball dad and having to wince at the cost of the most popular baseball sunglasses out there, I could totally see these for hardball players too. But whatever your sport, we'd be surprised if you didn't find them to be superior in quality to those big boys. And you'll be surprised that once you put them on, you won't want to take them off.

Here's an innovative solution that came across our desk to an ages-old problem. And while we haven't actually tried this product out, (not a lot of ice-skating in Southern California), it makes perfect sense.

Balance Blades are an ice skating solution designed to teach beginners how to skate and do so safely. The key is the blade. The front and back edges sport sharp indentations, kind of like a serrated knife, that will create traction when in contact with the ice surface. This provides two major benefits.

The back indentations prevent rear slip falls. What we've all seen happen to people on the rink is that the skates shoot forward faster than the body and the feet fly out from under the skater. The skater ends up on the ice with a sore rear-end, or worse. But the Balance Blade indentations will grab onto the ice, impeding that out-of-control motion, and allow the skater to stay upright.

The toe indentations allow the skater to voluntarily engage the ice surface, to assist with basic skating skills such as standing up, standing in one spot, pushing off, propelling forward and changing direction. Think of it as the difference between walking on ice in ordinary tennis shoes or with traction cleats.

And you may be wondering how you would ever wean a beginner off the safety of the Balance Blades. Some day you have to take off the training wheels, right? Well, they have that figured out too. Because over the course of a few years as you sharpen the skate blades normally, you'll also sharpen over the indentations, causing them to be less and less prominent, until they are virtually erased. Now, viola! You're skating on normal blades and no longer a beginner!

The Balance Blades are a terrific and reasonably-priced answer for parents who want to introduce their youngsters to hockey, figure-skating or just recreational fun on the ice. Because skating can be a ton of fun. Falling? Not so much.

Here's a can't-miss, no-brainer of a product we're proud to bring you. It's the Action Audio waterproof action sport audio system. If you surf, paddle board, jet ski, swim or just about anything else in the water, you can do it to a soundtrack of your choosing from now on.

The action audio system includes a stylish, comfortable and functional rash guard that contains a secret compartment for an IPX8 waterproof Action Audio player with 4GB of memory. The rash guard is 80% Nylon, 20% Elastane, It's cut long on the bottom to keep from riding up over stomach and has a loose fit for plenty of range-of-motion. The audio player slides into a slot in the collar and the headphones thread through the collar and out the front for easy access. Because of the snug fit, there is no way your device ever gets lost, not matter how hard you get tossed. The front of the shirt also offers a smart, velcro fastener to keep the headphones in place when not in use.

Threading the headphones into the collar was no problem, and we aren't even good at lacing our own shoes. Getting the hang of the three buttons on the audio player when inserted into the small pouch took a minute, but there were no issue after that.

What else can we say? The rash guard feels good and the positioning of the audio player is convenient, the headphones are comfortable and the sound is terrific. It is easy to load songs onto the device and it holds enough to form a playlist for any session you have in mind. And with all this going for it, it's much more affordable than most waterproof MP3 players on the market that simply clip onto a shirt and can easily get jettisoned with a hard crash into the surf.

So if you plan to go into the water tomorrow, don't go in silence. Load your best tracks, slip on your stealthy, secret shirt and make everyone else wonder what you're listening to. We just recommend at least one Beach Boys tune.